Hate-crime charges against two Houma men dropped

HOUMA -- Two Houma men accused of a hate crime had their charges dropped after the alleged victim failed to appear in court and a local judge refused a request to postpone the case.

Charles Brunet and Dwayne Racine were charged with second-degree battery and a hate crime after they were accused of shouting racial slurs and hitting a black man without provocation last year.

The two men were scheduled to stand trial Wednesday in District Judge David Arceneaux’s courtroom, but prosecutor Jason Lyons asked for a delay because the alleged victim, Dedric Knight, 32, of Houma, was working offshore and wouldn’t be available for another two weeks.

Lyons told the judge he had spoken with the victim two months ago, sent him a subpoena that his wife accepted on his behalf and was only notified Monday of his offshore status.

"We received no information or contact from the victim since we talked to him about six weeks ago," Lyons said.

Arceneaux denied Lyons’ request to try the case at a later date, forcing the prosecution to drop hate-crime charges against the two men.

Racine was not present in court Wednesday, possibly because of a misunderstanding. Brunet’s defense attorney, Camille Saltz Babin, told Arceneaux that Racine was probably absent because he had been told the trial was going to be postponed, which he could have taken to mean he didn’t need to be there.

Brunet and Racine were among three men and a teen arrested in September and charged with hate crimes.

Knight was changing his tire in the parking lot of the Bayou Express gas station at Howard and Main streets just after midnight Sept. 16. The group began directing racial slurs at him before the confrontation turned physical, authorities said.

The 16-year-old boy, whose name was not released because of his age, pulled out a gun and pointed it at Knight, while Dustin Boudwin, 24, and Brunet, 23, continued to shout slurs at him, according to police reports. At one point, when Knight shifted his attention from the teenager to the other two men, Racine, 29, blindsided him, striking him so hard facial surgery was required, authorities said.

All four were charged with hate crimes in September because the group appeared to have singled out the alleged victim for an attack for no reason other than his race, authorities said.

Boudwin pleaded guilty to second-degree battery and a hate crime in February and is serving a five-year prison sentence, court officials said.

"We should have been entitled to the continuance since we did everything we could to get the victim there," said First Assistant District Attorney Carlos Lazarus said regarding the case’s outcome Wednesday afternoon.

He noted that a witness or victim failing to show up for a subpoenaed court appearance isn’t uncommon and leaves the prosecution with limited options.

"If the main witness does not show up in a case, we don’t have a choice," he said.

Brunet is expected to appear in Arceneaux’s court again next month on charges of issuing worthless checks and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, court officials said.

Staff writer Mika Edwards can be reached at 857-2202 or mika.edwards@houmatoday.com.